Scientists are to use solar-powered transmitters to track four cuckoos as they fly to their wintering grounds in Africa.
The birds, caught at sites in Lochalsh and Skye, are the most northerly specimens to be used in a study which has previously followed a pair of cuckoos to the Congo Basin and back.
Staff with the British Trust for Ornithology (BTO) attached the transmitter packs to two cuckoos caught on the National Trust for Scotland's Kintail Estate, and also to single birds caught at the trust's nearby Balmacara Estate and Forestry Commission Scotland's Kinloch property on Skye.
The BTO's groundbreaking project is in its third year and is aimed at gaining a better understanding of the migration routes and African wintering grounds cuckoos use.
The cuckoo, which produces one of the most familiar background sounds to early summer in Britain, has undergone a decline in southern England, although numbers in Scotland appear to have remained stable.
An important part of this work will be identifying reasons why the north and west have become refuges for them and suggest ways to ensure this remains the case.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article